Chapter 16: Without Christ

"You were without Christ" (Eph. 2:12).

The text which heads this message describes the state of
the Ephesians before they became Christians. But that is not all. It
describes the state of every man and woman in England who is not yet
converted to God. A more miserable state cannot be conceived! It is bad
enough to be without money or without health or without home or without
friends. But it is far worse to be "without Christ."

Let us examine the text this day, and see what it
contains. Who can tell but it may prove a message from God to some reader of
this message?

1. Let us consider when it can
be said of a man that he is "without Christ."

The expression "without Christ," is not one of my own
invention. The words were not first coined by me, but were written under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They were used by Paul when he was reminding
the Ephesian Christians what their former condition was, before they heard
the gospel and believed. Ignorant and dark no doubt they had been, buried in
idolatry and heathenism, worshipers of the false goddess Diana. But all this
he passes over completely. He seems to think that this would only partially
describe their state. So he draws a picture, of which the very first feature
is the expression before us: "At that time you were without Christ" (Eph.
2:12). Now what does the expression mean?

a. A man is "without Christ" when be has no
head-knowledge of Him. Millions, no doubt, are in this condition. They
neither know who Christ is, nor what He has done, nor what He taught, nor
why He was crucified, nor where He is now, nor what He is to mankind. In
short, they are entirely ignorant of Him. The heathen, of course, who never
yet heard the gospel, come first under this description. But unhappily they
do not stand alone. There are thousands of people living in England at this
very day, who have hardly any clearer ideas about Christ than the very
heathen. Ask them what they know about Jesus Christ, and you will be
astounded at the gross darkness which covers their minds. Visit them on
their deathbeds, and you will find that they can tell you no more about
Christ than about Mohammed. Thousands are in this state in country parishes,
and thousands in towns. And about all such people but one account can be
given. They are "without Christ."

I am aware that some modern divines do not take the view
which I have just stated. They tell us that all mankind have a part and
interest in Christ, whether they know Him or not. They say that all men and
women, however ignorant while they live, shall be taken by Christ's mercy to
heaven when they die! Such views, I firmly believe, cannot be reconciled
with God's Word. It is written "This is life eternal, that they might know
You the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent" (John 17:3). It
is one of the marks of the wicked, on whom God shall take vengeance at the
last day, that they "know not God" (2 Thess. 1:8). An unknown Christ is no
Savior. What shall be the state of the heathen after death; how the savage
who never heard the gospel shall be judged; in what manner God will deal
with the helplessly ignorant and uneducated--all these are questions which we
may safely let alone. We may rest assured that "the Judge of all the earth
will do right" (Gen. 18:25). But we must not fly in the face of Scripture.
If Bible words mean anything, to be ignorant of Christ is to be "without
Christ."

b. But this is not all. A man is "without Christ" when he
has no heart-faith in Him as his Savior. It is quite possible to know all
about Christ, and yet not to put our trust in Him. There are multitudes who
know every article of the belief, and can tell you glibly that Christ was
"born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead
and buried." They learned it at school. They have it sticking fast in their
memories. But they make no practical use of their knowledge. They put their
trust in something which is not Christ. They hope to go to heaven because
they are moral and well-conducted, because they say their prayers and go to
church, because they have been baptized and go to the Lord's table. But as
to a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ--a real, intelligent
confidence in Christ's blood and righteousness and intercession--they are
things of which they know nothing at all. And of all such people I can see
but one true account. They are "without Christ."

I am aware that many do not admit the truth of what I
have just said. Some tell us that all baptized people are members of Christ
by virtue of their baptism. Others tell us that where there is a head
knowledge we have no right to question a person's interest in Christ. To
these views I have only one plain answer. The Bible forbids us to say that
any man is joined to Christ until he believes. Baptism is no proof that we
are joined to Christ. Simon Magus was baptized, and yet was distinctly told
that he had "no part or lot in this matter" (Acts 8:21). Head-knowledge is
no proof that we are joined to Christ. The devils know Christ well enough,
but have no portion in Him. God knows, no doubt, who are His from all
eternity. But man knows nothing of anyone's justification until he believes.
The grand question is: "Do we believe?" It is written, "He that believes not
the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him." "He that
believes not shall be damned" (John 3:36; Mark 16:16). If Bible words mean
anything, to be without faith is to be "without Christ."

c. But I have yet one thing more to say. A man is
"without Christ" when the Holy Spirit's work cannot be seen in his life. Who
can avoid seeing, if he uses his eyes, that myriads of professing Christians
know nothing of inward conversion of heart? They will tell you that they
believe the Christian religion; they go to their places of worship with
tolerable regularity; they think it a proper thing to be married and buried
with all the ceremonies of the church; they would be much offended if their
Christianity were doubted. But where is the Holy Spirit to be seen in their
lives? What are their hearts and affections set upon? Whose is the image and
superscription that stands out in their tastes and habits and ways? Alas,
there can only be one reply! They know nothing experimentally of the
renewing, sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. They are yet dead to God. And
of all such only one account can be given. They are "without Christ."

I am well aware that few will admit this. The vast
majority will tell you that it is extreme and wild and extravagant to
require so much in Christians, and to press on everyone conversion. They
will say that it is impossible to keep up the high standard which I have
just referred to, without going out of the world, and that we may surely go
to heaven without being such very great saints. To all this, I can only
reply, "What says the Scripture? What says the Lord?" It is written, "Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." "Except you be
converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven." "He that says he abides in Christ, ought himself also so
to walk, even as He walked." "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he
is none of His" (John 3:3; Matt 18:3;1 John 2:6; Rom. 8:9). The Scripture
cannot be broken. If Bible words mean anything, to be without the Spirit is
to be "without Christ."

I commend the three propositions I have just laid down to
your serious and prayerful consideration. Mark well what they come to.
Examine them carefully on every side. In order to have a saving interest in
Christ, knowledge, faith and the grace of the Holy Spirit are absolutely
necessary. He that is without them is "without Christ."

How painfully ignorant are many! They know literally
nothing about religion. Christ and the Holy Spirit and faith and grace and
conversion and sanctification are mere "words and names" to them. They could
not explain what they mean, if it were to save their lives. And can such
ignorance as this take anyone to heaven? Impossible! Without knowledge,
"without Christ!"

How painfully self-righteous are many! They can talk
complacently about having "done their duty," and being "kind to everybody,"
and having always "kept to their church," and having "never been so very
bad" as some, and therefore they seem to think they must go to heaven! And
as to deep sense of sin and simple faith in Christ's blood and sacrifice, it
seems to have no place in their religion. Their talk is all of doing and
never of believing. And will such self-righteousness as this land anyone in
heaven? Never! Without faith, "without Christ!"

How painfully ungodly are many! They live in the habitual
neglect of God's Sabbath, God's Bible, God's ordinances and God's
sacraments. They think nothing of doing things which God has flatly
forbidden. They are constantly living in ways which are directly contrary to
God's commandments. And can such ungodliness end in salvation? Impossible!
Without the Holy Spirit, "without Christ!"

I know well that at first sight these statements seem
hard and sharp and rough and severe. But after all, are they not God's truth
as revealed to us in Scripture? If truth, ought they not to be made known?
If necessary to be known, ought they not to be plainly laid down? If I know
anything of my own heart, I desire above all things to magnify the riches of
God's love to sinners. I long to tell all mankind what a wealth of mercy and
loving-kindness there is laid up in God's heart for all who will seek it.
But I cannot find anywhere that ignorant and unbelieving and unconverted
people have any part in Christ! If I am wrong, I shall be thankful to anyone
who will show me a more excellent way. But until I am shown it, I must stand
fast on the positions I have already laid down. I dare not forsake them,
lest I be found guilty of handling God's Word deceitfully. I dare not be
silent about them, lest the blood of souls be required at my hands. The man
without knowledge, without faith, and without the Holy Spirit, is a man
without Christ!

2. What is the actual condition
of a man without Christ? This is a branch of our present subject
that demands very special attention. Thankful indeed should I be if I could
exhibit it in its true colors. I can easily imagine some reader saying to
himself, "Well, suppose I am without Christ, where is the mighty harm? I
hope God will be merciful. I am no worse than many others. I trust all will
be right at last." Listen to me and, by God's help, I will try to show that
you are sadly deceived. "Without Christ," all will not be right, but all
desperately wrong.

a. For one thing, to be "without Christ" is to be without
God. The Apostle St. Paul told the Ephesians as much as this in plain words.
He ends the famous sentence which begins, "You were without Christ," by
saying, "You were without God in the world." And who that thinks can wonder?
That man can have very low ideas of God who does not conceive Him a most
pure and holy and glorious and spiritual Being. That man must be very blind
who does not see that human nature is corrupt and sinful and defiled. How
then can such a worm as man draw near to God with comfort? How can he look
up to Him with confidence and not feel afraid? How can he speak to Him, have
dealings with Him, look forward to dwelling with Him, without dread and
alarm? There must be a mediator between God and man, and there is but one
that can fill the office. That One is Christ.

Who are you to talk of God's mercy and God's love
separate from and independent of Christ? There is no such love and mercy
recorded in Scripture. Know this day that God out of Christ is "a consuming
fire" (Heb. 12:29). Merciful He is, beyond all question rich in mercy,
plenteous in mercy. But His mercy is inseparably connected with the
mediation of His beloved Son Jesus Christ. It must flow through Him as the
appointed channel, or it cannot flow at all. It is written "He that honors
not the Son, honors not the Father which has sent Him." "I am the way, the
truth and the life no man comes unto the Father, but by Me" (John 5:23;
14:6). "Without Christ" we are without God.

b. Moreover, to be "without Christ" is to be without
peace. Every man has a conscience within him, which must be satisfied before
he can be truly happy. So long as this conscience is asleep or half dead, so
long, no doubt, he gets along pretty well. But as soon as a man's conscience
wakes up, and he begins to think of past sins and present failings and
future judgment, at once he finds out that he needs something to give him
inward rest. But what can do it? Repenting and praying and Bible reading,
and church going, and sacrament receiving, and self-mortification may be
tried, and tried in vain. They never yet took off the burden from anyone's
conscience. And yet peace must be had!

There is only one thing can give peace to the conscience,
and that is the blood of Jesus Christ sprinkled on it. A clear understanding
that Christ's death was an actual payment of our debt to God, and that the
merit of that death is made over to man when he believes, is the grand
secret of inward peace. It meets every craving of conscience. It answers
every accusation. It calms every fear. It is written "These things I have
spoken unto you, that in Me you might have peace." "He is our peace." "Being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ"
(John 16:33; Eph. 2:14; Rom. 5:1). We have peace through the blood of His
cross: peace like a deep mine--peace like an ever-flowing stream. But
"without Christ" we are without peace.

c. To be "without Christ" is to be without hope. Hope of
some sort or other almost everyone thinks he possesses. Rarely indeed will
you find a man who will boldly tell you that he has no hope at all about his
soul. But how few there are that can give "a reason of the hope that is in
them"! (1 Pet. 3:15). How few can explain it, describe it and show its
foundations! How many a hope is nothing better than a vague empty feeling,
which the day of sickness and the hour of death will prove to be utterly
useless, impotent alike to comfort or to save.

There is but one hope that has roots, life, strength and
solidity, and that is the hope which is built on the great rock of Christ's
work and office as man's Redeemer. "Other foundation can no man lay than
that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3:11). He that builds on this
corner-stone "shall not be confounded." About this hope there is reality. It
will bear looking at and handling. It will meet every enquiry. Search it
through and through, and you will find no flaw whatever in it. All other
hopes beside this are worthless. Like summer-dried fountains, they fail man
just when his need is the sorest. They are like unsound ships, which look
well so long as they lie quiet in harbor, but when the winds and the waves
of ocean begin to try them, their rotten condition is discovered and they
sink beneath the waters. There is no such thing as a good hope without
Christ, and "without Christ" is to have "no hope" (Eph. 2:12).

d. To be "without Christ" is to be without heaven. In
saying this I do not merely mean that there is no entrance into heaven, but
that "without Christ" there could be no happiness in being there. A man
without a Savior and Redeemer could never feel at home in heaven. He would
feel that he had no lawful right or title to be there; boldness and
confidence and ease of heart would be impossible. Amid pure and holy angels,
under the eyes of a pure and holy God, he could not hold up his head; he
would feel confounded and ashamed. It is the very essence of all true views
of heaven that Christ is there.

Who are you that dreams of a heaven in which Christ has
no place? Awake to know your folly. Know that in every description of heaven
which the Bible contains, the presence of Christ is one essential feature.
"In the midst of the throne," says St. John, "stood a Lamb as it had been
slain." The very throne of heaven is called the "throne of God and of the
Lamb." "The Lamb is the light of heaven, and the temple of it." The saints
who dwell in heaven are to be "fed by the Lamb," and "led to living
fountains of waters." The meeting of the saints in heaven is called "the
marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev. 5:6; 22:3; 21:22, 23; 7:17; 19:9). A
heaven "without Christ" would not be the heaven of the Bible. To be "without
Christ" is to be without heaven.

I might easily add to these things. I might tell you that
to be "without Christ" is to be without life, without strength, without
safety, without foundation, without a friend in heaven, without
righteousness. None so badly off as those that are without Christ!

What the ark was to Noah, what the Passover lamb was to
Israel in Egypt, what the manna, the smitten rock, the bronze serpent, the
pillar of cloud and fire, the scapegoat, were to the tribes in the
wilderness--all this the Lord Jesus is meant to be to man's soul. None so
destitute as those that are without Christ!

What the root is to the branches, what the air is to our
lungs, what food and water are to our bodies, what the sun is to
creation--all this and much more Christ is intended to be to us. None so
helpless, none so pitiable as those that are without Christ!

I grant that if there were no such things as sickness and
death, if men and women never grew old and lived on this earth forever, the
subject of this message would be of no importance. But you must know that
sickness, death and the grave are sad realities.

If this life were all--if there were no judgment, no
heaven, no hell, no eternity--it would be mere waste of time to trouble
yourself with such inquiries as this tract suggests. But you have got a
conscience. You know well that there is a reckoning day beyond the grave.
There is a judgment yet to come.

Surely the subject of this message is no light matter. It
is not a small thing, and one that does not signify. It demands the
attention of every sensible person. It lies at the very root of that
all-important question, the salvation of our souls. To be "without Christ"
is to be most miserable.

1. And now I ask every one who has read this message
through to examine himself and find out his own precise condition. Are you
without Christ?

Do not allow life to pass away without some serious
thoughts and self-inquiry. You cannot always go on as you do now. A day must
come when eating and drinking and sleeping and dressing and making merry and
spending money will have an end. There will be a day when your place will be
empty, and you will be only spoken of as one dead and gone. And where will
you be then, if you have lived and died without thought about your soul,
without God, and without Christ? Oh, remember, it is better a thousand times
to be without money and health and friends and company and good cheer than
to be without Christ!

2. If you have lived without Christ hitherto, I invite
you in all affection to change your course without delay. Seek the Lord
Jesus while He can be found. Call upon Him while He is near. He is sitting
at God's right hand, able to save to the uttermost everyone who comes to
Him, however sinful and careless he may have been. He is sitting at God's
right hand, willing to hear the prayer of everyone who feels that his past
life has been all wrong, and wants to be set right. Seek Christ, seek Christ
without delay. Acquaint yourself with Him Do not be ashamed to apply to Him.
Only become one of Christ's friends this year, and you will say one day, it
was the happiest year that you ever had.

3. If you have become one of Christ's friends already, I
exhort you to be a thankful man. Awake to a deeper sense of the infinite
mercy of having an almighty Savior, a title to heaven, a home that is
eternal, a Friend that never dies! A few more years and all our family
gatherings will be over. What a comfort to think that we have in Christ
something that we can never lose!

Awake to a deeper sense of the sorrowful state of those
who are "without Christ." We are often reminded of the many who are without
food or clothing or school or church. Let us pity them, and help them, as
far as we can. But let us never forget that there are people whose state is
far more pitiable. Who are they? The people "without Christ!"

Have we relatives without Christ? Let us feel for them,
pray for them, speak to the King about them, strive to recommend the gospel
to them. Let us leave no stone unturned in our efforts to bring them to
Christ.

Have we neighbors without Christ? Let us labor in every
way for their soul's salvation. The night comes when none can work. Happy is
he who lives under the abiding conviction that to be in Christ is peace,
safety, and happiness; and that to be "without Christ" is to be on the brink
of destruction.